inFAMOUS 3 Point 5: Festival of Blood
by WhiteZephyr
Summary: Joan likes Zeke's stories, but the way he tells them to women is an entirely different experience. She tracks him down eventually and listens to another of his tales, but what's on Dunbar's mind when Vampires tend to be the craze?
1. Prologue

inFAMOUS 3.5:

Festival of Blood

Prologue

"Where the hell'd Zeke go?" I muttered as I walked through the streets of New Marias. "Man, if he's not at the roof, then he's gotta be at the Bloody Mary." I sighed. "Alcoholics…"

I guess it's all been good now. I'm about to graduate at my high school, I'm dating, and I've got legal guardians, even though Lucy and Cole know I can handle myself. I guess Cole just thought it was another responsibility of his, given that Kessler was my father.

I walked to the Bloody Mary, taking my time. It was nice, now that New Marias had been fully repaired. Not just from the Beast's damage, but my own. A few months ago, it wasn't a fun time. Needless to say, I hate a few "issues" to deal with, and I was lucky to come out alive from it. Now, I just liked to take it slow. I liked fighting, definitely, but relaxing was great too.

I entered the Bloody Mary to see Zeke sitting and talking at the bar with a woman. As soon as he mentioned "Vampires", I knew he was weaving another tall tale. I sighed and sat beside Zeke at the bar.

"Hey Zeke," I greeted. "How's it going?"

Zeke saw me and started biting his lip because of the look I was giving him. "Good," he answered carefully. "I was just tellin' Cat here 'bout Pyre Night."

"One of our oldest traditions in New Marias history," I remarked, smiling. "Which one were you talking about?"

"The time when I saved Cole—and you—from eternal damnation," Zeke replied. I almost laughed out loud, but I kept my poker face on as he continued, "Y'know, when you and Cole were bein' controlled by Bloody Mary."

I scratched my head. "Enlighten me, Zeke. I forgot about it. It was probably the… _stress_, knowing that I could have been eternally damned."

I saw Cat smirk a bit, but Zeke just smiled. What could I say? I liked his tall tales. As long as they didn't involve me doing something I wouldn't do.

"Okay, Jo," Zeke said. "I'll start 'er up then. Now, Pyre Night was a time when the people of New Marias could relax and dress up as all sorts o' monsters, like Halloween, only there were more beers. Now, we—meaning Cole, Lucy and I—decided t' go t' this one too, since it was Joan's first. But Lucy couldn't make it, since she was actually called by the NSA to do a bit of work for 'em, even though she signed-off from 'em. So, Cole and I took Joan. And boy, was it ever one hell of an intro to Pyre Night. You could even call it, _killer_…"


	2. Festival of Blood

Chapter One:

Festival of Blood

"This place… They really went all-out for this!" I exclaimed excitedly, seeing all the people dressed-up, the banners hanging from buildings, and the giant clown-like heads around New Marias. "This is cool!"

Cole clapped me on the back and laughed. "I figured you'd like it. I mean, it _is_ Pyre Night, so there's lots of fires going on…"

"Geez, I'm not _obsessed_ with fire, Cole." I wished that Lance could be there, but he was with his mom visiting his dad's grave in L.A., and I didn't want to get in the way. Alec was around here somewhere, and I was pretty sure he was popping in from the shadows to scare the crap outta somebody. He was like that. "So, where do we start?"

Cole was about to answer when several screams pierced the air. Silence soon followed, along with the sound of our sprinting through the streets to see what was going on. We reached the cathedral, where the screams seemed to have come from.

"Stay here, Jo," Cole said. "Get everyone back to the party. I'll check this out."

I hesitated, but nodded. "Okay. Probably just some idiots taking Pyre Night a bit too far, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Alec."

Cole pushed open the door to the catacombs and went inside. I shut the door, but left it a bit open so he could get out easier.

"It's okay guys!" I said to the few people who were watching Cole and I. "We're checking it out! Probably just some idiots who got drunk too soon!"

They smiled and told their friends, and then the music was back on and the people were partying again. I pulled-up a fallen piece of the cathedral that hadn't been cleaned-up by the city and sat on it by the door, waiting for Cole. A few people came out, saying something about "monsters", and I almost rolled my eyes. Even _I_ didn't know what Alec could do with his shadows yet.

I decided that I'd be of better use to Cole if I checked for other entrances around the cathedral for the catacombs. When I could find none, even inside the cathedral, I went back to where Cole had gone in. I was thinking about what Zeke, Cole and I were going to do for fun when something really, really strange happened.

More people, though paler than the others, came out of the catacomb door. I was a good distance away, but I could hear them hissing and spitting. Plus, their ears were a bit more pointy than anyone's I'd ever seen. Not to mention that they had really red eyes…

And then a woman in a slim red gown with red hair walked out with them. She seemed to be taking her time, but her walk was so graceful that she could've been floating off the ground.

"Have fun," she whispered, but it seemed that all of those people heard her. They ran off in many directions through the streets. _Their "fun" had better be partying…_

And then she looked in my direction, and smiled. The woman held my gaze for a moment before she disappeared in a red cloud of what looked like bats. I suddenly wondered if I'd been staying up too much, but I couldn't stay on that thought for long.

A gigantic bat-like creature swooped out from the air and sunk its massive claws into my shoulder, carrying me off. I screamed in pain as the claws dug in further, distracting me from kicking its ass.

"_Let_. _Me_. _Go_!" I roared, and shot a fireball at it.

As soon as the fireball impacted, it screeched in pain and dropped out of the sky a little, but it didn't release me. Its scream seemed to have attracted monsters just like it, and they quickly latched onto me, making me scream a bit more.

"JOAN!" I heard Cole yell from down below.

The monsters looked at each other, and then released me. I plummeted to the ground, just managing to use my fire to slow my descent. I knew that I was in trouble as soon as I hit the ground. Those pale people with red eyes and sharp ears—they immediately surrounded me. I could hear screams from all over the graveyard; so many that I didn't know who could be closest to me that I could help.

I drew my nodachi and held it in front of me. "Back away!" I ordered.

The pale people looked at each other, smiled, and looked back at me. They opened their mouths and hissed, showing-off their fangs. Immediately, I knew what they were, but it was hard for me to accept.

"Vampires…" I muttered.

One leaped at me, and I drove my nodachi into its heart. I cheered momentarily, but then it grabbed onto my head and slammed me against a tomb. _What the hell? I impaled it! What's going on?_

I let go of my nodachi and put my hands on the Vampire's arm, and burnt him to a damn crisp. My nodachi dropped to the ground and I didn't dare pick it up, worrying that they'd use that second to attack.

I ignited my arms and made them spew fire at the Vampires. I wasn't gonna let any of them get near me, no matter what.

"Where's Cole?" I murmured angrily. "I heard him yell!"

"Alas, he's still getting used to his new powers."

I jumped back and fried a few more Vampires before I looked for the source of the voice. "Where are you?"

"Haha!" She laughed for a good few seconds before she decided to answer. "You _are_ a strange one! You look a lot like me, did you know that? I guess that's why I seem to like you so much." In a cloud of red bats, she appeared. The woman from the catacombs. "Well, that and the fact that you are so much like my newest little pet."

I felt uneasy at the way she was looking at me. Her eyes were red, and her ears slightly less pointy, but her fangs were no less prominent. Another thing I noticed was that while we were talking, the other Vampires didn't attack. They were listening to us, and smiling. It was creepy, to say the least.

The woman tapped her chin and circled me. I kept my eyes on her and my body tensed, ready to defend myself if she attacked. But she seemed like she was genuinely curious about me, and wasn't going to attack—for the moment at least.

"Hm…" She stood in front of me again. "Yes, I think you'll do. Having two people with… _strange_ abilities as part of my coven will greatly aid me."

"Two?" I repeated, and then I remembered what she'd said about Cole. I clenched my fists. "You bitch! What'd you do to Cole?"

"I perfected him," she answered haughtily.

I increased my flames, forcing her to back off a bit. "You remind me of a bitch I met in Empire City. And I wasn't exactly fond of her, so you can imagine how I'm feeling about you."

She smiled and snapped her fingers. Immediately, the Vampires attacked. I brought my fist up and caught one of them in the jaw, and then twirled around and slammed my foot into another's head. I threw fireballs in random directions, hoping to catch them, and then another one of those giant bats came at me from the sky. It slammed into me and tried to tear my damn throat out, but I burned it before it could. Unfortunately, the Vamps I hadn't burnt to a crisp were getting up again, licking their wounds and still advancing.

"Joan!" I saw Cole, shirt covered in blood, grab this cross-thing from his messenger bag where his AMP had been and stab a Vampire in the chest. It screamed and disintegrated into nothing. "Hold on!"

And then she was on me. The Vampires were holding Cole back, and he couldn't get to me. Even if he could, I wasn't sure if he'd be much help. She looked so fragile, but that bitch was strong. I increased my flames to the max, but she just held onto me like I was just another Human. My powers didn't affect her at all!

"That tickles," she mused playfully. "My turn."

I pushed away from her with all of my strength, even kicking her several times, but she got even closer. I'd just realised that one of the Vampires had scratched my neck, narrowly missing my jugular vein. She ran her tongue along the blood and started to suck from the cut.

"Hm. I'm not getting enough, and I'm very thirsty tonight." I struggled, but she kept a firm hold on me. "What say you, young one? I think it's time for a long drink."

"Get away from me!" I snapped.

She smiled. "When people get angry, you can hear the blood pumping from their heart and through their veins. And you… You're especially angry."

She violently sank her fangs into my neck and started to drink my blood. I shoved her, kicked her, punched her—I did everything that I could think of to get away from her.

And it still wasn't enough.

I could feel my blood just _leaving_. I saw the envious looks on the faces of the Vampires, licking their lips as they watched the woman drink my blood. And then Cole… God, he had black veins extending from two tiny pinpricks on his neck, and red eyes just like them. Fangs, too. And he was fighting so hard to get to me. Was there really a point? I was sure I was gonna die. My body got weaker and weaker as she drank, and then she let me go and let out a long sigh of pure euphoria. My body dropped to the ground and simply didn't move. I could only see and hear.

"New Marias…" the woman said as she wiped some of my blood from her mouth. "I think I like it here already."

And then she was gone. Good thing too, 'cause my eyes were closing, and I didn't want to think about what she would've done to me when they were. I felt violated enough already.


	3. The Benchwarmer

Chapter Two:

The Benchwarmer

When I came to, I was still in the graveyard. Only my head friggin' hurt. And then my vision cleared and I saw Cole, but it was really hard to look at him. Those bites looked painful on his neck.

"I swear, I didn't drink on Pyre Night," I said automatically, though it was kinda groggy.

Cole sighed in relief. "I thought you were a goner, Jo."

And then it all registered. I groaned in annoyance and sat up. "I thought so too. Goddammit, as soon as I get my hands on that bitch I'm gonna rip her to pieces!"

"Believe me; I'm joining in." Cole offered me a hand to help me get up, and I gratefully took it, still feeling a bit woozy. "But Zeke called me and told me that we need to find out how she was defeated before. There's gonna be a story-telling soon at the old clocktower. We should check it out."

I nodded and followed Cole. We took our time getting out of the graveyard, since we were watching out for Vampires. And then it occurred to me that Cole had red eyes and fangs…

"Cole, are you one of them?" I asked.

He hesitated. "Yeah. Come sunrise, Bloody Mary's gonna have control over me." Cole waited a moment before he added, "You too."

My heart dropped. Right. That bitch—Bloody Mary—bit me. I unconsciously moved my tongue over my teeth, but I didn't feel any fangs. My neck hurt though.

"We'd better hurry," Cole said. "While you were out, I followed Mary. I lost her, but she sent these things called 'Harpies' after me. They're pretty much female Vampires with Uzi's and teleportation powers. Top that with a bad attitude, and you've got a difficult enemy."

I felt so weak, it wasn't even funny. My head was pounding, and I was constantly licking my lips. _Man, what I wouldn't give for a drink…_

"Joan?"

"Huh? Yeah, what's up?" I asked, snapping back to reality (or a really bad dream. At this point, I couldn't tell).

"You okay?" Cole asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, just… shocked I guess."

Cole patted my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We'll get Mary. Let's just check out that story on Father Ignatius, and then we can make a plan."

"Good idea." I followed after Cole, but I lost him as soon as we got out of the graveyard. I soon figured out that I needed to follow the gigantic cloud of bats.

I tried to activate my fire, but, for the first time, it hurt like hell. Seriously! It felt like I was burning myself alive! I had to stop, and so I just ran after the cloud of bats that Cole had turned himself into.

_Why can't I do that?_ I wondered as I rounded a corner, right into a coven of Vampires.

"Oh shit…" I muttered as they faced me, sadistic grins plastered to their pale faces.

"One of the newborns," one of the Vampires said. "Looks weak."

"Probably because you can't smell any blood on 'er." One of the larger Vampires examined me quickly. "Hm… Maybe if she drank some, she'd look stronger."

_I don't like where this is going…_ I reached for my nodachi, only to find that it wasn't there. _Shit! The graveyard—!_

A Vampire ran at me, hissing and spitting venomously. I brought my leg up and kicked it in the throat before it could get too close. The Vampire slammed into the wall, blood leaking from a new wound on his head.

All the Vamps started coming towards me. I knew that I had good experience with hand-to-hand combat, but the way I was feeling definitely put me at a disadvantage. If we ended up fighting for long, I'd be overcome and probably eaten… or they'd do something else with me. I wasn't into the big hype on Vamps, and even the mention of _Twilight_ made me sick.

A Vamp kicked me hard in the gut while I was panicking. I hit the ground hard and rolled a few times as I slowed out of the alley. As I got up, I saw people—Humans—dressed up and watching us. They probably thought this was something for Pyre Night. Something that the Conduits put together. My head throbbed, and I found myself staring at their necks—.

The same Vamp who kicked me leapt onto my back. I reacted quickly by grabbing onto its head and flipping it onto the ground, then rammed my elbow into its throat. Its friends were quickly on me, but that's when Cole came in all of his bat-shit wonder.

The mass of bats (a.k.a. Cole) rammed into the Vamps and got them off of me pretty quickly. He turned into his new Vampiric form and stabbed a Vamp in the chest with the silver cross that he had instead of his AMP.

The other Vamps got scared and ran back into the alley. Cole stabbed the cross into the other Vamp's chest (the one I'd taken down) and frowned at me.

"What the hell?" he said. "Why didn't you use your powers?"

"Apparently, Vampire plus fire powers equals painful," I answered simply.

Cole rubbed the back of his head. "Damn… And I guess the way you are now, you aren't too strong either."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean, you over-used, blood-drinking, walking lightbulb?"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Look, I dunno how you've been resisting so far, but you need some Human blood, or else you're gonna stay like you are. So, let's just—."

"_Hell_. _No_."

"But you need it!"

I stood up and crossed my arms. "Screw that! I'm not gonna eat a Human!"

"You aren't eating them—!"

"Only sucking away their lifeblood, right?"

Cole bit his lip. "Then what do you want to do, O stubborn one?"

I shook my head. "I dunno. Wait a sec, just help me get back to our apartment, and I can chill out there while you kick Mary's ass!"

Cole's eyes widened in surprise. "Is Joan MacGrath actually asking to sit this one out?"

"No. I'm just asking to rest up, so I can kill that bitch myself."

Cole sighed. "You won't get strong without Human blood. As soon as I saw a Human when I got out of the cathedral, I ran over and just… Well, long story short, she's dead."

I glared at him. "You killed someone?"

"I couldn't control it." Cole's eyes lifted until he saw a few people—Humans—staring at us from the street. "Fine. I'll take you to the apartment. But you'd better sit this one out. If you can't use your powers and you won't drink blood, you're practically useless."

"Say that again—!"

Cole grabbed me around the waist and launched himself into the air via a car. I was cut-off mid sentence to scream for a second before I realized that I flew around the city all the time. Cole didn't turn into a cloud of bats; instead, he just carried me the old-fashioned way… by slinging me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes! That bastard…

Cole dropped me in front of his apartment. "I'll call Alec," he said before I could say a damn word. "He'll look after you while I'm gone… and make sure you don't do anything stupid."

I would've argued, but chances were that I _would_ be doing something stupid.

"Get inside," Cole ordered.

I frowned at him, but listened. I'd asked to sit out, anyway.


	4. Six Hours Until Sunrise

Chapter Three:

Six Hours Before Sunrise

I crawled into bed and just lay there, unmoving. I didn't want to think about what was going on. I just wanted to sleep and forget about it, but sleep wasn't coming. When does it ever come when you want it? In fact, I felt pretty awake. Exhausted, but awake.

And really, really thirsty.

I got up out of the bed and searched the fridge for something to drink. Hot chocolate, orange juice, milk… I wondered if I had actually started craving coffee. So, I made a pot and took a sip. It tasted bitter; more bitter than I'd ever tasted it.

I dumped the pot and my cup into the sink and tried desperately to get the bitter, metallic taste out of my mouth. Water worked wonders, but it didn't really satisfy me either.

_Maybe I'm just getting one of those crazy girl cravings…_ I thought as I flopped onto the bed.

I heard the doorbell ring, so I crossed through the rooms of the apartment and checked to see who it was. It was just Alec, so I opened the door.

"Woah, Jo," he said, smirking, "you look like hell."

"I feel like hell," I grumbled as I stepped to the side, letting Alec pass. "What're you doin' here?"

"Cole asked me to watch over you," Alec said with a shrug. "Something about you just not feelin' like yourself."

_You got that right,_ I thought with a frown. And then I remembered my conversation with Cole. He'd said that he'd call Alec. I wondered why I forgot so quickly.

"Well, I'm trying to sleep."

Alec nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll just watch some T.V. If you're feelin' any better, you could come watch with me. Though I'm not really sure why you wanna miss out on Pyre Night."

"Just believe me when I say I wanna sit this one out."

Alec shrugged and sat down on the couch, grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels. I went back to my bedroom but stopped at the door. I returned to the living room after a few minutes of standing around.

"Hey Alec, d'you have anything to drink?" I asked.

"Why would I? I can mooch off of Cole and Lucy!" Alec replied, a grin on his face. "Mooching is great, ain't it?"

"Y-Yeah…"

My eyes moved to Alec's neck. I started to move forward, getting thirstier and thirstier as I did. My throat was burning!

The next thing I knew, my hands were wrapped around Alec's throat. Alec leapt up and got out of my grasp easily, but I continued to stagger forward. I was no longer aware of what I was doing; I just wanted…

"What the hell Jo?" Alec snapped. I saw him reach for the gun slung across his back. "Hey! Would you just stop for a sec?"

I leapt at him. Alec slammed the butt of his gun into my face, but I still managed to get on top of him. A feral growl ripped out of my throat. Alec smashed his head against mine and staggered me, but that didn't stop me. Alec was screaming at me, but I couldn't hear him. And then he sank into the floor, before I could do anything. He reappeared too fast for me and kicked me hard in the stomach, right out the window.

I landed on a car in the alley, my head ringing. I could taste my blood in my mouth, metallic and sweet. Alec followed me out the window, landed on the car gracefully, and pointed the barrel of his sniper rifle at my throat. He shouted something; I couldn't make it out.

The next thing I knew, I was running. Alec was leagues behind me. He probably hadn't yet realized that I wasn't even there anymore. A stabbing pain found its way into my chest, but I didn't know what caused it. I had found my way into another alley, where a man and his friends were drinking and listening to some music. I pulled the hood of my windbreaker over my face automatically, and took a step forward—.

_**"Did you have fun?"**_ a voice asked.

My eyes opened groggily. The pain in my body had left, and I didn't feel thirsty… Was it all a dream? I couldn't remember half of what happened.

_**"It looked like you did,"**_ the voice continued. _**"I was debating joining you, but you fledglings are so ferocious, and hog all the fun whenever there are groups. Ah, well. It can't be helped, can it? You'll simply have to learn with time."**_

_Huh?_ I looked around. No one was there, but… Where was I?

_**"Finally decided to join the ranks of the undead, have you?" **_The voice chuckled. _**"I was wondering when your instincts would kick-in. You lasted longer than Cole, that's for sure."**_

___Bloody Mary, _I thought angrily. _What're you doing in my head? I've already had one bitch in my head before, and that was enough!_

_ **"Ah, yes. I can see that. Sasha was her name. You almost burnt her from the inside in Empire City. You're quite the killer, aren't you?"**_

_And what would you mean by that?_

_ **"Look around, my darling Joan. You are something of an artist as well."**_

__My eyes didn't need to adjust to the darkness around me. I could see as if it were bright as day… or as close as it could get at such a time in the morning. Blood was splattered all over the bed, the apartment, the door, the hallway… It looked like a crime-scene of a massacre.

"W-What…?" I muttered.

_**"You handled yourself well, fledgling. After approaching those men, you were so weak without blood that one of them decided you needed to rest in his apartment. One of his friends even convinced him that they could take advantage of you while you were in such a state. And then, as soon as the door closed, you pounced." **_Bloody Mary chuckled inside my head. _**"There were five men; your tore out the first's throat, and tossed his corpse into three of them. You went after the last man standing and plunged your arm through his stomach. He died in seconds. The last three, you broke their necks. Art, if I'd ever seen it. And I am very old; I have seen my share of art. Though it could have been less bloody, that's for sure. You wasted so much…"**_

__I was hyperventilating. The memories were coming back in quick flashes, but I could see every detail. Alec had threatened to shoot me on the car. I tossed him over me and started running. As soon as I saw those guys, I did exactly what Bloody Mary had described. Worse, I didn't feel anything for it.

_**"You can really go on a blood craze," **_Mary said. _**"How useful. And think; you wasted so much of their blood that you'll go after more. And more, and more, and more, until an appetite like yours is satisfied. Maybe you'll never be satisfied. Either way, I think I'll enjoy having you and Cole around." **_Mary laughed again. _**"You haven't got much longer, anyway."**_

___"GO AWAY!" _I screamed. When I heard her laughs die down, I brought my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them.

And then the door to the apartment broke. Actually, someone had kicked it in. I heard a little gasp as they saw the massacre inside, and then a weapon was drawn. Activated, I recognized it was the AMP.

"What the fuck happened…?" I heard Cole mutter. "Another Vampire coven…?"

And then he entered the bedroom. I felt like if I stopped holding myself, I'd fall apart.

"J-Joan…?"

I looked up at him. I wasn't even sure what my expression was, but his gaze turned from shocked to concerned in an instant. "How'd… How'd you find me…?"

"A woman ran up to me and reported some guys taking a kid into their apartment. She was worried, and so I figured it was another Vampire coven with another victim." Cole deactivated the AMP and sat on the bed, trying to sit on a part of it that wasn't covered in blood. "What happened, Joan? Weren't you supposed to be at home? Alec was watching you."

I was finding it hard to explain. The words kept getting caught in my throat. Suddenly, Cole's cell started ringing. Cole seemed torn as to shutting it off or answering it, but in the end he answered.

"Yeah?"

_"Cole, I lost Joan,"_ Alec said from the other end. _"She tossed me into the wall of the alley by your place and knocked me out. I dunno where she is! And can you tell me what the hell's up with her? She tried to friggin' kill me!"_

Cole glanced at me. I hung my head. "Don't worry, Alec. I found 'er."

_"Well, can you at least tell her that she owes me? She bent the barrel of my sniper rifle when I hit the wall. I want _her_ to pay for the repairs!"_

I closed my eyes. "Don't worry," Cole said, "she'll pay for 'em. Right now, we've kinda got some issues to deal with."

_"Yeah, no shit."_ Alec shut his phone off, disconnecting the call.

Cole glanced at me. "You tried to kill him?"

"I guess I did," I muttered. "It was a bad idea to call Alec…"

"Well, that was my fault." Cole grabbed my hands and helped me off the bloody bed. "C'mon. You might as well get cleaned up a little."

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Pretty bad. You look like—." Cole stopped short. "Well, you look like you were involved in a massacre, which you were."

"Well, if ya think about it, they really _were_ gonna take advantage of me…"

Cole shrugged. "Well, those days for them are over, I guess."


	5. Twenty Minutes Until Sunrise

Chapter Four:

Twenty Minutes Before Sunrise

Cole had left me in the bloody apartment. He said that he was going after Bloody Mary, and since I couldn't use my powers, I was pretty much helpless. I felt stupid just standing around there, with the corpses staring at me. It felt like they were blaming me. _It wasn't my fault! It wasn't me!_

I felt crazy talking to the corpses. Without a second thought, I jumped out of the window and onto the roof of a building not far away. Upon further experimentation, I found that I could jump farther, but that alone probably wouldn't help against Bloody Mary.

Still, I was a stupid teenager who didn't really listen to my parents. And since Cole was only a few years older than I was, he still didn't really know how to act like a parent, or how to put his foot down.

So, there I was, leaping through the sky to the St. Ignatius cathedral. It wasn't hard to spot, considering it was huge and there was a giant lightning bolt in front of it.

_Cole must already be fighting that Vampire bitch,_ I thought. _I'd better see if I can help!_

I rushed over, jumping and running at high-speed, until I came to a gigantic hole in front of the cathedral. Vampires were surging inside. I could see Cole's lightning flashing everywhere, and then I heard Zeke's voice.

_That idiot!_ I thought angrily. _He's gonna get himself killed!_

I jumped into the hole, and into a pretty pissed Vampire. He hissed, so I punched him hard in the face. What can I say? I'm not a conversationalist. A few more Vamps turned on me and attack, and I suddenly felt relief as I knew that I wasn't totally helpless anymore.

"Joan!" Cole's voice echoed through the catacombs. "Help Zeke!"

I quickly ran over to cover, Zeke, who was shooting a few Vamps in the head with his gun. "What're you doing here, Zeke?"

"Plantin' some bombs," he replied, almost happily. "We're gonna bury Bloody Mary, and this time she'll stay down!"

"Well, hurry it up! That bitch has got to be put down—!"

"Before sunrise! Yeah, yeah, I got it! Just keep these bloodsuckers off my back until I set these charges!"

I nodded. "You got it, Uncle Zeke."

Zeke grinned and got back to work while I fended off the Vamps. Cole was locked in battle with Bloody Mary, one I tried my best to ignore. I didn't like her in my head, but if she knew that I was watching her, she'd probably use that to her advantage.

As if she could hear my thoughts (which, I'm pretty sure, she _could_), Bloody Mary spun around and pointed a pale, bony finger at me.

"You! Stop Cole!" she ordered.

I frowned. It wasn't even sunrise yet! She probably forgot. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not under your control quite yet."

Cole slammed into Mary and hit her with his AMP (which, I could see, had some kind of crazy cross on it). She screamed and went back to battling Cole.

"Zeke! If you could hurry it'd be great!" Cole yelled.

"Hold on, brother! I got this!" Zeke yelled back.

With the white phosphorus planted, Zeke bolted out of the tomb. Cole followed, holding Bloody Mary off as best he could. We only had a few minutes left until sunrise!

I came after, hitting Bloody Mary on the head for good measure. She snarled and grabbed my ankle. I'd been so convinced that I'd be faster than her that I didn't notice it until my head slammed into the stone as she jerked my leg back.

I could smell my blood immediately. I kicked violently, trying to get Bloody Mary off of me, but she had a grip tighter than iron.

I could feel the heat of the sun start to burn my skin, like my flames earlier in the night. I screamed in pain, but Bloody Mary, I noticed, could feel it too. So, I did the stupid thing and turned on my flames to the max. The pain was unbelievable, but Bloody Mary finally let me go.

"Do it!" I yelled.

Zeke bit his lip. I kicked Mary once more in the face and then scrambled to be beside my friends.

"NOW!"

Zeke pressed the button, and the white phosphorus lit up like the Fourth of July. Mary screamed as a boulder crushed her, and the rest of the catacombs caved-in. Immediately, I felt relief wash over me. She was dead. And Cole and I weren't burning in the sunlight anymore.

I laid down on the concrete for a minute, just taking it all in. We'd been so close… And then Cole offered his hand to help me up.

When I was on my feet, Cole smiled. "Let's not do that again. Ever."

"Here, here," I agreed.

Zeke tossed both me and Cole a water bottle. "You guys're probably thirsty. How 'bout we head on to my place and watch some movies? I got some beers."

"I'm out on the beers, but I'm in for the movies," I said with a grin. "And I kinda need to change. Actually, Cole and I need to change. I'm not gonna walk around like I just drank someone's lifeblood."

"Yeah, you had five," Cole said.

"Totally was not my fault."

"Right."


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

Cat smiled. "What an ending."

"Yep, and after that, things were back to normal. So, you see, this little 'kiddie book' comes in handy sometimes."

I shook my head at Zeke. _What a player…_

And that was when Cole decided to come into the Bloody Mary Bar. "Zeke! Thank God I found you!"

Zeke's face went white as he tried to explain to Cole that he was "working", while Cole just tried to tell him that he'd accidentally dropped the AMP into a pool. Either way, it was a comedy and a half.

After a second, Cat volunteered to go with Cole to get his AMP. She thanked Zeke for the story.

"It was… very enlightening." Cat, smiled, and then hissed at him, revealing two pointed white fangs on either side of her mouth.

Zeke practically shit his pants as he fell off the barstool. I was laughing though; little had Zeke known that I'd invited Cat to the Bloody Mary myself and supplied her the "Vampire fangs".

Zeke looked at me, surprised. "That's for helping Cole to disable my T.V. back in Empire City!" I said triumphantly as Cat took the fangs out of her mouth.

"Just for that? Jesus, Jo! You nearly made me have a damn heart-attack!" Zeke exclaimed. "I thought you'd forgotten about that!"

"Believe me; I forget nothing. Especially if you're on my grudge-list." I waved to Cat. "Thanks, by the way."

"Don't mention it; I owed you, remember?" She smiled and went out with Cole to grab his AMP.

I helped Zeke up. "By the way, she was already dating someone," I told him.

"Who?" Zeke asked.

I pointed. "The bartender."

Zeke coughed. Oh yeah, revenge was sweet.


	7. Author's Notes

Author's Notes

Not much here, just wanted to say that it was harder to write something like this while remaining true to the series. I had wanted to get _Festival of Blood_ myself, but I really didn't have the time to do it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.

By the way, the next _inFAMOUS_ is on! inFAMOUS 6: The Vicious Prologue and Chapter One are now up, so check it out!


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